Toronto is a young city by world standards. But it is a city with a colourful, if sometimes neglected, past. This section includes a set of overlay maps showing the development of the town of York which was to become the City of Toronto, over a period from 1793 to 2002. Clicking on each of the years at the left will display the appropriate map. Once the map is loaded, you can click on the map to see a larger version of that map.

Natives have lived in the Toronto area for at least ten thousand years. The first European to visit this vicinity was Etienne Brule in 1608. Toronto, however, was not to be settled for almost another two hundred years.

In 1787 Lord Dorchester, British Commander at Montréal, negotiated the Toronto Purchase with the natives for a fourteen mile stretch of land along Lake Ontario. The natives received 1,700 pounds, while the English received a parcel of over 250,000 acres.

After the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were created in 1791, the British began the process of settling Upper Canada (later Ontario). The first Governor-General, John Graves Simcoe arrived at Toronto looking for a location for the capital of the new province. The present site of Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) was deemed to be too close to the American border.

The maps here reflect the small area which included the original Town of York and encompass the area presently bounded by Bay Street on the west, Broadview Avenue on the east, the lakefront on the south, and Gerrard Street on the north.